Welcome to GosuGamers' Heroes of the Storm info series. We'll cover a hero's basic kit and common play style to help you quickly get in fighting shape in Blizzard's upcoming MOBA. This is a brief overview of the hero, intended to demonstrate how to play to his strengths and counteract his weaknesses.

Tassadar

Strengths

  • Great wave clear
  • Excellent damage mitigation for self and teammates
  • Invaluable vision trait
  • Solid small-AoE damage
  • Difficult to pin down and pick off

Weaknesses

  • Cooldown dependent
  • Negligible CC capability
  • Short reach
  • Limited mobility

Tassadar's Trait

Oracle

Greatly increases your vision radius and allows you to detect enemy Heroes. Lasts for 5 seconds, 30 second cooldown.

Tassadar's Oracle is arguably one of the most impactful traits in HoTS. Without the ability to rely on vision wards a la League of Legends or DOTA, abilities that allow you to safely approach bushy areas and spot incoming pickoff attempts become incredibly valuable. Whether you're playing in a public game or with an organized group, Oracle can and will save your life. It shines brightest in situations when the enemy team leans on their Nova or Zeratul for stealthy rotations and ganks; but also, it's just generally strong in all matchups and on every map. Don't activate it EVERY 30 seconds, but take advantage of its short cooldown and use it liberally to deny the enemy the element of surprise.

Tassadar's Abilities

Plasma Shield

Shield target ally, absorbing 200 damage (+40/lvl) for 8 seconds, 8 second cooldown.

Psionic Storm

Deal 40 damage (+10/lvl) per second to enemies in the target area for 3 seconds, 8 second cooldown.

Dimensional Shift

Become invulnerable and fully invisible for 1.5 seconds, 20 second cooldown.

Tassadar is classified as a support, but beyond the vision afforded by Oracle, his baseline ability to protect his teammates essentially begins and ends with Plasma Shield. With a talent like Force Wall, his supportive repertoire can be expanded a bit, but current wisdom suggests that an offensive-leaning Tassadar, favoring Archon, will yield better results. Psionic Storm is an excellent wave clear, and even with average map awareness, Dimensional Shift will allow you to easily duck many potential ganks. These qualities in tandem make Tassadar an excellent solo presence in the early game.

When it's time to group and a confrontation is brewing, make sure you keep Plasma Shield on your highest priority teammate. Because its duration is the same as its cooldown, it's advantageous to preemptively cast shield if you have a good read on who the enemy team will try to focus. Keep one eye on the minimap and use Oracle to spot potential enemy flanking maneuvers. Tassadar has low max HP, but Dimensional Shift and Plasma Shield can make you a difficult target to squash. Once you learn your limits, you can press this advantage to be more aggressive than other heroes with similar health pools.


Tassadar's Heroic abilities

Archon

Transform into an Archon for 12 seconds, gaining a 200 (+40/lvl) point shield, causing Basic Attacks to deal 64 (+12/lvl) damage and splash to enemies in a small area for 32 (+6/lvl), 100 second cooldown.

Force Wall

Create a wall that blocks all units from moving through it for 2.5 seconds, 12 second cooldown.

As mentioned previously, Archon is far and away the more commonly picked Heroic in Tassadar's arsenal, and for good reason. Archon temporarily turns Tassadar from an evasive disruption into a beefy burst machine. Force Wall can come in handy, especially when the tide of battle moves to narrow corridors between the lanes, but Archon is the ability that defines Tassadar's role in the current metagame. Combining Archon's burst potential with his already powerful base support kit makes him a well-rounded addition to any lineup. That said, his short range and low mobility can make it difficult to fully exploit his burst. For this reason, he works best with teammates who can lock down or persistently slow the enemy. 

Key Talents

Level 1: Conjurer's Pursuit -OR- Psi-Infusion

 or 

Conjurer's Pursuit increases Mana Regeneration by .5 per second - Every 3 Regeneration Globes gathered grants an extra +.25 Mana/second permanently.

Psi-infusion causes Psionic Storm to return 7 mana for each target initially hit.

The Overload talent in this tier, which increases Psi Storm's range by 33%, is quite attractive. But choosing one of these two mana talents is necessary. If you run out of mana at the wrong time during a game, Tassadar becomes a sitting duck. Psi-infusion shines in the early game - casting Psionic Storm on all 7 creeps in each wave returns 100% of its cost, contributing to Tass's incredible lane presence. However, its effectiveness falls off later in the game when you won't necessarily be casting Storm on waves of creeps. Conjurerer's Pursuit shines in the late game, once you've had time to collect an ample number of Regeneration Globes. The choice between these is a matter of playstyle and preference.

Level 7: Static Charge -OR- Calldown: MULE

 or 

Static Charge causes enemies damaged by Psionic Storm to receive a debuff (called Static Charge) - your basic attacks consume the charge to deal 23 damage (+5/lvl).

Calldown: MULE summons a Mule to repair structures, one at a time, near the targeted point for 40 seconds, healing for 100 health per second. Also grants 1 ammo to towers and forts every 5 seconds.

Static Charge grants a nice buff to Tassadar's single-target damage, which is lacking when not in Archon. This talent boosts his baseline on-demand damage, and makes him even scarier when in Archon form. MULE is an important tool on maps like Haunted Mines, Blackheart's Bay and Sky Temple. When the map objectives tend to leave your forts and keeps at partial HP, and your enemy is unable to finish them off, MULE can go a long way in denying a substantial chunk of XP. If no other heroes on your team are able to take MULE, or if you determine that it's worthwhile to forego the extra damage afforded by Static Charge, MULE is an excellent pick.

Level 13: Prescience -OR- Shrink Ray

 or 

Prescience causes Dimensional Shift to activate automatically when you fall below 15% HP, and this effect has a separate 45 second cooldown.

Shrink Ray reduces an enemy Hero's damage and movement speed by 50% for 4 seconds.

Shrink Ray is another talent like Calldown: MULE in that it can be a powerful tool for the benefit of your entire team. When the enemy team relies on a buffed-up Illidan or an entrenched Sergeant Hammer as their weapon, Shrink Ray can make or break an engagement. If you can afford it, however, Prescience is an excellent talent. Unless the enemy can kill you in one blow from above 15%, or unless they time a silence well enough to deny its activation, it will save your life countless times, bait some important enemy cooldowns, and allow you to play a more aggressive role than would otherwise be possible.

Level 16: Dimensional Warp -OR- Second Strike

 or 

Dimensional Warp causes Dimensional Shift to grant 50% movement speed and heal for 40 health (+40/lvl).

Second Strike allows a second Psionic Storm to be cast for free within 3 seconds of casting the first. The damage from overlapping storms will not stack.

If you took Prescience at level 13, Dimensional Warp is a no-brainer. This talent turns Tassadar into a slippery invisible self-healing racecar. This combination of talent picks form the crux of Tassadar's potential durability. In certain situations, like when you're not in particular danger of being focused and quickly killed, you'll even be able to use Dimensional Warp offensively, quickly and stealthily moving into position for a huge Archon. However, if your role has dictated that this combo isn't necessary, Second Strike grants additional pushing and defensive power, doubling the efficiency of the already-powerful Psionic Storm. It won't do much to boost your burst damage, but it certainly increases your damage over the course of a teamfight and indirectly serves as another mana-conservation talent.

Conclusion

Tassadar's greatest strength lies in his flexibility. He fits comfortably in a wide array of team compositions, providing a tactical advantage with Oracle, keeping teammates alive with Plasma Shield, and crushing waves of enemy creeps with Psionic Storm. He can provide an additional body at the front line in a pinch, produce some serious burst damage when called for, and excels at baiting the enemy into making poor decisions. Remember to make liberal use of Oracle, learn how to conserve your mana when necessary, and watch out for heroes like Malfurion, Brightwing and Sylvanas - their silencing abilities will deny your Dimensional Shift when you need it most. In the hands of a skilled and knowledgeable player, Tassadar is an absolute beast; and even if you are new and adjusting to the learning curve, he is rarely a liability. Consider unlocking him sooner rather than later to flesh out your hero roster, you will not regret it.

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